1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a machine intended for unscrambling and automatically positioning containers which may be of very different forms and sizes, with the ability to change its rate of production by units of time within very wide margins .
2. Description of the Prior Art
Machines for unscrambling and positioning containers, such as bottles, are known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,295,659 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,650,368, for example. The first Patent describes a machine in which a rotatable disc inclined with respect to the horizontal forms the bottom of a receptacle into which the containers or bottles which are to be sorted are loaded at random, and has at its periphery a plurality of openings adapted to receive and retain the containers or bottles for transporting them from a receiving zone to an unloading zone where they drop through a chute to be oriented or positioned, falling by gravity through a guideway, or chute, device to be transported away by an associated device. The inclined configuration of the bottom of the receptacle is for the purpose of guiding the retainers to the lower part where they are picked up by the conveyor and rotated to the upper part where the unloading zone is disposed. The second patent referred to above describes a similar unscrambling and positioning machine for such containers in which a plurality of chutes are mounted on a revolving drum below the bottom of the receptable or hopper, and adapted so that the chutes receive individual containers at the unloading zone and position or orient them and transport them to another position where they are picked up by a conveyor for conveying them away from the machine. In addition, Australian Patent No. 499,038 corresponding to British Patent Specification No. 1558379 shows a similar machine in which a plurality of chutes mounted on a revolving drum below the bottom of the hopper sequentially transport individual containers to an unloading zone from where they are dropped through chutes in an upright position and subsequently diverted toward an adjacent conveyor for transporting them away from the machine.
All of these machines utilize a hopper or upper receptacle for receiving the bottles or containers having a circular or cylindrical configuration inside of which a rotating element, such as a disc or annular structure, collects them by means of pockets located at the periphery thereof in a loading area at the bottom of the inclined planar bottom and carries them along the periphery of an inclined plane to the unloading zone where they drop through an opening by gravity toward the chutes which orient or position them in an upright position. Such unscramblers however present the following drawbacks: attempts to increase the performance by enlarging the diameter of the machine, requires modification of the conveying means to adapt it to the enlarged configuration, which would be extremely costly and require shut down of the machine for substantial periods of time; an attempt to increase the spead of the machine to improve the performance thereof, introduces a centrifugal force that makes it difficult to unload the containers at the unloading zone so that they can drop by gravity into and through the positioning chutes, which can also damage the containers.
The increasing use of plastic containers in the bottling industry in general and the beverage industry in particular has caused a constant increase in problems of automatic feeding of these plastic bottles into the filler. Longstanding classical problems of traditional prior art unscramblers include the need for constant attention of personnel at the unscramblers in columns in order to undo obstructions, and continuous maladjustments and wear in belt positioners. The inventor's previous unscramblers, such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,681,209, were capable of outputs of up to 13,000 bottles per hour with 1.5 liter bottles with rotary unscramblers. For higher outputs (generally 25,000 bottles per hour) a number of unscramblers were grouped together by way of various connecting systems, which somewhat alleviated the problem depending on the stability of the bottle and the available space in the plant. However, the tendency today among beverage bottlers is to increase bottling velocities above 30,000 bottles per hour in order to reach 35,000 units per hour with the aim of decreasing labor costs per unit bottled. Accordingly the problems of unscrambling the empty bottles and feeding them into the filler increased, and until now, it is the applicant's belief that attempts to resolve this problem were resolved by utilizing more than one unscrambler which many times created problems of space, high purchase cost, and increased maintenance and personnel costs. An associated problem was that once the empty bottles were standing, they were accelerated, increasing their speed several times, i.e., 2 to 4 times depending upon the number of unscrambler machines used. This resulted in fallen bottles and interruptions in the bottling line.
It is also known from the inventor's previous U.S. Pat. No. 4,681,209 to provide a machine of the type referred to above wherein the chutes for receiving and guiding the containers dropped through the unloading zone are removable and exchangeable with chutes of different sizes to accommodate containers of many different sizes. The recesses for receiving the containers at the lower part of the machine are also formed by detachable parts which are interchangeable with replacement parts to accommodate the different shapes and sizes of the containers being handled.
This latter machine is designed for continuous feeding of other machines, such as high production filing machines, and is able to carry out this function owing to the large number of containers which it can position correctly per unit of time. Containers are fed by means of a horizontal transport belt toward the utilization line. Another factor in its high production rate is a minimum of interruptions occurring in its work cycle owing to its design and the means of control which are provided, while it is also possible for special purposes to operate two or more of these machines in parallel with the two production lines in this case joining to form a single line which is used to feed the corresponding filling machine.
It is understandable that in a machine having these characteristics the main parameter is reliable operation of which total production directly depends, because of which this automatic cycle machine is equipped with control and/or safety components designed to immediately detect any irregularity in the state of the containers (imperfect finish, irregular shape, etc.), or in their positioning, in the means of container transfer within the machine, in which case where defective they must immediately be rejected and removed from the other containers in such a way that they do not at any time interrupt the functioning of the machine as described hereafter.